Iran will pump most of the revenue it receives from the lifting of international sanctions – expected to reach some $100 billion – into its limping economy and won’t significantly boost funding for militant groups in the Middle East, according to an intelligence assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency.
[…]
The CIA analysts concluded that even if Tehran increases its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi rebels in Yemen and the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the additional funding is unlikely to tip the balance of power in the world’s most volatile region.
[…]
The Obama administration is banking on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other moderates in Iran’s leadership investing most of the anticipated money into domestic infrastructure and other social investments, to quell growing public frustration over unemployment, the high inflation rate and a shortage of imported goods.﻿

Using materials prepared by inmates in Hungarian prisons, 900 soldiers will build a fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia by December to stem the torrent of migrants, officials said Thursday
[…]
Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Hungary does not want any migrants from outside Europe. But over the past months, 80 percent of the refugees requesting asylum in Hungary have come from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Most leave within days to richer EU countries like Germany before their asylum claims are settled.

The government’s anti-immigrant billboard campaign and a questionnaire sent to voters linking migration with terrorism have been criticized by the U.N.’s refugee agency, among others.﻿

Americans have worked harder and smarter since 1979. Productivity is up 66.5% and Americans now work 1800 hours annually on average – 300 hours more than Germans. But the GOP’s vision of America is one where hard work is rarely rewarded with higher wages.

Exhausted employees must wonder at the remarkably rarefied air enjoyed by America’s wealthy, when multimillionaire GOP presidential candidates like former Florida Governor Jeb Bush urge them to work even harder. The Republican answer to wage stagnation is simple: With hourly pay stagnant, the solution is to work more hours.

World leaders announced a landmark agreement Tuesday designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program and lift economic sanctions that have left the country isolated for years. U.S. officials say the deal would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb for at least a decade.

President Obama said that the deal would stop the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and that it is “not built on trust, it is built on verification.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address announcing the deal that “our prayers have come true.”

LAT summarizes key points as follows (details for each at link above):

– Iran will eliminate nearly all of its uranium stockpile
– Iran will decrease its capacity to enrich uranium
– Iran will allow robust inspection of known and suspected nuclear sites, including military areas
– Iran will need to disclose some information about its past nuclear program
– The United Nations, United States and European Union will lift crippling economic sanctions against Iran
– The Western powers retain the ability to reinstate the sanctions if they suspect Iran is cheating
– The United Nations has set a timeline to lift embargoes on Iran’s ballistic missile and conventional arms trade

According to the New York Times, the Obama Administration must now win approval from Congress for the deal (or at the very least win support from more than a third of each chamber to fend off a veto-proof resolution against it).

Israel’s Netanyahu-led far-right coalition government would not have accepted any deal whatsoever, so I don’t take their view into account. This deal remains a critical achievement for global security and stability, including for Israel.

A U.S. government photo from the early phases of the recent Iranian nuclear talks, which ran from 2013 to 2015.

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